Wasteland 3: Why Charisma Is Secretly The Most Powerful Stat

The humble Charisma stat doesn’t seem that useful in the combat-focused world of Wasteland 3. Sure, you can intimidate and talk your way out of situations in this post-apocalyptic RPG, but most of the time you’ll let your guns do the talking. So what makes the Charisma stat so special? Usually this stat, along with stuff like Luck, is the worthless stat players ignore while building their battle-hardened rangers.

Ignore CHA at your own risk. This stat is incredibly useful, but only if you level it up to Charisma 10. At the top-tier, Charisma gives you +30% XP. That means you’re always earned 1/3rd more XP per battle — earning more XP for every stat check, quest reward, or combat scenario. You’re always earning more XP, and that’s even more useful if you get this early in the game.

Boosting your Charisma to 10 at the start is a powerful build strategy. We’ll go over all the details in the full guide below.

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Putting your Leader at CHA 10 is a great way to get started in Wasteland 3. At Charisma 10, you’ll earn +30% XP — at Charisma 9, you’ll only get a +10% XP bonus. At Character Creation, you can immediately give your Leader CHA 10 and reap the benefits.

All your stats will suffer early, but you’ll quickly outclass everyone else in your party. You’ll be earning skill points at a much higher rate, so you can increase your other attributes faster. The earlier you unlock the top tier of Charisma, the more XP you’ll earn in the long-term.

Of course, you can’t give everyone in your party CHA 10. It’s best to give this to your leader for the bonus XP, while the rest of your team serves other purposes — like upgrading weapons, bartering, lock-picking, hacking, and using a variety of weapons. Your Leader is a fighter and a supporter, so increasing charisma early will help you build the leader into a powerhouse that can heal and fight while giving your party a leadership boost.

There’s no easy way to farm XP, but with CHA 10 you won’t need to. Just enjoy the intake of XP and level up faster than anyone else in your squad. If you’ve got a few extra stat points you want to waste, throwing them into the CHA stat doesn’t hurt either.